The field of this invention relates to mounts for trolling motors.
Fisherman frequently use trolling motors for repositioning a boat or holding its position within a fairly narrowly defined area in which the fisherman has determined to be the best spot. One of the hazards in moving the boat with the trolling motor is the situation where a fixed object below the water is struck by the trolling motor. In the past, the trolling motor columns have been secured to brackets pivotally to allow the trolling motors to deflect in a single plane upon striking an underwater obstruction. A good example of this type of design is U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,068. Other designs have put a ring clamp around the column and secured the clamp to the trolling motor support structure with a flexible or shock-absorbing connection. Typical of such designs is U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,233. Yet other older designs use the universal joint in conjunction with a propeller that could be retracted and extended below the bottom of the boat. This design is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,491,233.
Other designs that are relevant to prior mountings of outboard motors or trolling motors are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,674,228; 5,238,432; 2,923,270 and 1,328,313. Also of interest to the background of the invention are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,839,986; 2,972,977; 2,973,738; and Japanese Patent 4-78,791. Ball joint pipe couplings are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,860,271, and 2,332,893.
The designs in the prior art as described above have not addressed the issue of a glancing or oblique blow to a trolling motor. Instead, as previously described, the prior designs have included the ability to move in a single plane in reaction to striking an object. While this may be sufficient if the longitudinal axis of the trolling motor is in line with the longitudinal axis of the boat so that the boat is going essentially directly forward or in reverse, there exists other occasions where the direction of movement of the boat or the shape of the underwater object results in a glancing blow to the body of the trolling motor. The prior designs described above have not been designed for this type of encounter with an underwater obstruction. Accordingly, the apparatus of the present invention has been developed to allow the trolling motor column to be displaced in any given direction. In providing such a design the present invention takes into account the operating requirements for such a device with the result being that flexibility in a multitude of planes in a 360xc2x0 circle is created for the trolling motor column. A mechanism is also put in to easily indicate the neutral or vertical position for the fisherman so that the column can be restored to that position easily and quickly. The clutch mechanism controls the resistance to motion with respect to the supporting brackets. Finally, the column interacts with the support system so that the relative depth of the trolling motor can be adjustable while at the same time taking advantage of the feature of motion in a multiplicity of planes in a 360xc2x0 circle.
A trolling motor column is supported in a support frame by virtue of the ball and socket connection. The column passes through the ball. The ball has a bore through which the column extends. The column may be secured in different positions to the bore or a tube which extends from the bore in the ball. The support framework houses the socket which surrounds the ball. A clutch mechanism is provided to regulate the degree of force required to displace the ball within the socket. A neutral or vertical position indicator on the ball and socket is provided to easily reposition the column to near vertical after an encounter with an underwater object. As a result, the column can flex in a multiplicity of planes around a 360xc2x0 circle.